12 Tips EVERY BACKPACKER Should Know To SHAVE WEIGHT From Your Pack

hey y'all Dixie here today's topic is tips every Backpacker should know about shaving weight from their gear we're having another rainy day here in Alabama and maybe I should have gone back to the safety of my blanket fort but my first tip is weigh everything and record it in something like ladderpack.com or on an Excel spreadsheet because this gives a number to each item in your pack instead of just randomly throwing items in there you know exactly how much weight cost each thing has and then you can determine is item X worth y ounces and to add on to this I always look at everything in ounces there are some people who get down to the nitty gritty even more and consider everything in grams but I think moving away from pounds to smaller increments really helps you to go through that shaving weight process because ounces add up to pounds my next tip is do not bring backups I know the saying two is one and one is none but that just isn't really the best mindset to have when you're packing a pack to go backpacking the only things that I bring doubles of typically are one a ladder I like to have my main ladder to cook with and start fires with and a backup and this is really for survival purposes but also so that I can have a warm meal at night in case I misplace my ladder and a ladder just doesn't weigh much at all and also it's recommended to have two forms of navigation so I have an app on my phone for whatever Trail I'm doing and then I'll carry along typically my inreach mini but this could even be a map or whatever else for you next ditch the stuff sags it seems like every little piece of backpacking gear you buy you end up getting some little cute sack that it comes in and if you actually put all of those things on the scale you can see where it can be a quick way to shed some ounces a lot of people have a stuff sack on their sleeping bag they'll have their Water Filtration kit in some sort of stuff sack even battery Banks come with a little padded stuff sack so what I do for organization in my pack all of my toiletries I keep in a large Ziploc bag and then all of my electronics in another large Ziploc bag and I use the freezer bags so they're a little bit more durable but they just tend to be more lightweight especially just having those two zip locks instead of having every little thing in some sort of stuff sack for my sleeping bag and other things that I want to keep dry that are larger I have a Nylo fume pack liner it weighs less than an ounce costs less than five dollars and it'll line the whole pack you can cram everything down in there it'll also help save space by doing this because it's all in one shebang and then you just roll that pack liner down and it keeps everything waterproofed and dry even if you're hiking in a rainstorm the only thing that I really put in a stuff sack is my clothes because that doubles as my pillow at night I can put my puffy or the clothes that I hiked in during the day in that and roll it down and use it as my pillow I also tend to carry a dyneema which is very lightweight material stuff sack just in case it rains and I want to waterproof any of my camera equipment but those are really the only two stuff sacks I have in my pack the next tip is limit your wardrobe especially for beginners I was the same way it can seem a little odd to not have a fresh change of clothes for each day but embracing the suck and embracing the stink is part of Trail life especially if you want your pack to be more comfortable to carry so you really only need a dedicated outfit to hike in and one to sleep in and you could even argue that you don't need the one to sleep in if you have a properly rated sleeping bag for your comfort level but I do prefer to have an outfit to sleep in I also always carry extra sets of socks I have a pair to sleep in and two to hike in that's just personal preference and I do accept that additional weight I think it's a good idea to have a spare pair of draws just in case you have an accident or you do want to keep things more fresh down there to not run into any funky problems and yes I carry some sort of insulating layer even when it's warm outside because you can get hypothermia even in warmer temperatures but as far as actual outfits like changes of clothing your basic top and bottom you only really need one to hike in and maybe one to sleep in repackage food and toiletries this is something I do whether I'm on a through hack or out for a weekend trip on a through hike I will sit right there in the foyer area of a grocery store or right outside the grocery store and repackage things in Ziploc bags so it will save space and also weight in my pack for weekend trips you can do the same thing at home also if you're going to be eating things like Mountain House meals you can empty those into Ziploc bag bags and I've heard of people taking just one of those mylar packages and rehydrating their meal in that each night from the Ziploc bag just to help save some weight and space and then you just wash it out and reuse it again the next evening for toiletries it makes sense to put things in a smaller container like if you're going to be out for a short time you don't need a whole huge big tube of toothpaste you can squirt a little bit in a smaller container or even by the travel sizes next avoid Nalgene bottles it seems like in every thing you see about hiking and gear ads or whatever you always see hackers with this cliche heavy Nalgene plastic bottle they are nice in the way that they're durable reusable and a normal laugh I have used them but on trail they're just heavier than they have to be a lot of them weigh around six ounces I think the ones that I took to Kilimanjaro because you were required to have something reusable were a little bit lighter than six ounces but still a lot heavier than something like a flexible bladder or even a disposable smart water bottle for example don't pack books I think folks when they're first starting out feel like they're going to be bored on trail but most people are so tired at the end of the night it's a struggle to do anything other than like maybe prepare some sort of food and then go right to sleep now if you are somebody who finds that you do like to read on trail well you can use a reader app like the Kindle app for example sample so that you're not having extra weight if you're going to already be carrying your phone even God books you can typically get some sort of app to take the place of the guidebooks or get a pdf version that you can look at on your phone or worst case take actual pictures of the book that you have at home with your phone and then you can zoom in and look at the pictures another great way to shave off significant weight in your pack is to upgrade your big three or start off with the most lightweight stuff you can afford when you're first buying your backpacking gear this is definitely the most expensive tip because your big three which is your shelter your pack and your sleeping bag are typically the most expensive and the heaviest items in your pack but over time you can slowly upgrade each thing by saving up searching different sales especially around the holidays or even searching up the backpacking used gear groups on Facebook but you can do this stuff even on a budget or if it takes you a little bit of time to save up I mean you've got the rest of your life to upgrade this stuff but by upgrading your big three you can literally shave off pounds especially if you didn't spend a whole lot to start with and got more of the budget items that tend to be heavier although there are some budget items that can be lightweight one way to help you decide which item to upgrade first you can just do a little research kind of get a feel for what new item you're wanting and then sit down put it on a spreadsheet and see how many ounces per dollar spent you would save so that way you're getting the maximum amount of weight savings out of each dollar that you spend also it makes sense to upgrade your shelter and your sleeping bag first because before you get a lot weight pack you really want to have lightweight gear because the ladder packs themselves tend to have less of a carrying capacity than the bulkier more padded type packs would have don't go with a bigger pack than what you need for the Necessities if you're selecting a new pack because you're upgrading or even if you're going out for your first time purchase of a pack you want to make sure that your Necessities fit and that's pretty much it so I mean the stuff that you need to survive on trail so for example maybe all of your stuff will fit inside of a 50 liter pack but you're like well I could go with a 65 so I have extra space if I want it don't if you go with that 50 liter pack then chances are you're not going to carry a bunch of unnecessary weight because you won't be tempted to fill extra space when upgrading your shelter or again making that first time purchase opt for a tent that uses trekking poles to set up even if you're not going with a super expensive Ultra lightweight tent typically the ones that set up using trekking poles are still going to save you some weight because the additional weight of dedicated tent poles does add up and if you're going to be walking with trekking poles anyway and carrying those in your hand that's just less weight on your back next tip is do a pack Shakedown sometimes just having somebody sitting there and judging you on what you've decided to carry in your luxury items in your pack is enough to go you know what maybe I'm not thinking this through or it really can just offer a different perspective and by all means you may have those things that you're just not willing to part with but again explaining to somebody and trying to convince yourself as to why you really need this thing might help I had a big change in my mindset on the way I did my water filtration when I did a Shakedown during my through hike of the Pacific Crush Trail the fella that was helping me asked me why are you using a platypus gravity Works filtration system on the Pacific Crest Trail where you don't really have many trees to hang it up to filter your water anyway not to mention that the bladder on either end of that gravity work system weighed significantly more than a smart water bottle would weigh or even two smart water bottles so that's when I shifted to the Sawyer squeeze which is just a few ounces plus the weight of smart water bottles and now that's my current filtration system and that one change alone probably saved me at least eight ounces I've done two different pack shakedowns at two different Outfitters one on the Appalachian Trail one on the Pacific Crest Trail but you can even do this sitting down and talking with another friend that likes to go backpacking or even a friend that doesn't backpack but they can ask well what's this for what are you going to use this for again just having somebody have that conversation with you and having to be honest will help you to leave some things out of your pack kind of in the same vein I recommend sorting everything into piles of needs and once and everything in the need pile goes in the pack the wants you got to sit there and really look at it and analyze it and think about it and when you see that massive stuff sitting there go on and weigh that whole pile of Wands and then think about it do you really want that stuff bad enough that you're willing to put all of that mass of weight on your back and that should help you narrow down to really just a couple of luxury items next make a log of what you did not use when you return home from a backpacking trip chances are if you didn't use those items on that backpacking trip you probably wouldn't in the future either finally avoid packing your fears this is something that I've always heard you pack your fears and it's so true if you're afraid of being hungry you're going to carry too much weight and food if you're afraid of being cold or stinky you're going to carry a lot of clothing or unnecessary personal items like deodorant and body wash Etc so yes you want to make sure you have enough enough of what you actually need but sit down kind of think within yourself is this stuff that I'm carrying just because I'm afraid of a certain situation and if so then do I actually really need it one example is if you know that there is a reliable water source every four miles or so of whatever stretch of Trail you're doing you probably don't need to pack on four liters of water from one source to the next analyze the situation figure out what you really need and to be honest this is something that gets better with time and experience all right y'all that is all I have for you today on tips for shaving weight off of your pack but if y'all have any ideas that I didn't mention in this video I'm always happy to learn from others so feel free to comment your ideas below thank you all so much for watching and if you found this video useful be sure to share with a friend and we will see you all next time

Channel: Homemade Wanderlust

Views: 192,098

Keywords: travel, hiking, backpacking, hike, gear, adventure, fun, story, Appalachian, Trail, PCT, CDT, thru-hike, Auburn, Alabama, epic, climbing, canyon, national, nature, mountains, update, park, lake, trail, tents, camping, summer, University, Aubie, River, stream, Mountains, National, Scenic, Dixie, Camino, Florida Trail, Pinhoti Trail, Foothills Trail, Tetons, Grandma Gatewood

Id: sVyOj0c2-pw

Length: 13min 52sec (832 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 28 2023